


Redolence

by Del_Rion



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Abortion, Alien/Human Relations, Drugged Sex, Dubious Consent, F/M, M/M, Mpreg, OT6 if you squint, Other, Pheromones, Tentacle Sex, Tentacles, Unplanned Pregnancy, brief Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-12-10 00:11:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/779562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Del_Rion/pseuds/Del_Rion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b> Tony disappears for days and returns with a rather unlikely companion, whom Tony then viciously protects from anyone who tries to separate them. Thor claims the alien is controlling Tony’s mind – but that is only the first of many problems the Avengers and Tony will be facing.</p><p><b>Written for:</b> Tentacle Big Bang<br/>Also filling the “mind control” square on my card in <i>Trope Bingo</i>’s Round 1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Releaser

**Author's Note:**

> ****
> 
> Story Info
> 
> **Title:** Redolence
> 
>  **Author:** Del Rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)
> 
>  **Fandom:** The Avengers (MCU)
> 
>  **Genre:** Erotica, drama, suspense
> 
>  **Rating:** MA / FRAO
> 
>  **Characters:** Bruce Banner (Hulk), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), J.A.R.V.I.S., Nick Fury, Loki, Pepper Potts, Steve Rogers (Captain America), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Tony Stark (Iron Man), Thor
> 
> [](http://swcajolings.livejournal.com/117787.html) **Pairings:** Tony/OMC. Brief Tony/OFC/OMC. Implied past Pepper/Tony. OT6 (Bruce/Clint/Natasha/Steve/Thor/Tony) if you squint.
> 
>  **Artist:** swcajolings (LJ) / [ART](http://swcajolings.livejournal.com/117787.html)
> 
>  **Warnings:** Sexual content between human/alien males (includes tentacles), brief het and slash threesome content (between humans), dubious consent/rape (sex while drugged/mind-controlled), (unwanted) male pregnancy, abortion, violence.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** Iron Man and Avengers, their characters and everything else belong to Marvel. The movie versions belong to Marvel Studios, Joss Whedon, Jon Favreau, Louis Leterrier, Kenneth Branagh, Joe Johnston, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures… in short: everyone but me. This is pure fiction, created to entertain likeminded fans, no profit made.
> 
>  **Beta:** Mythra
> 
>  **Feedback:** Very much appreciated in every shape and form.
> 
>  
> 
>  **About _Redolence_ :** I hope everyone took a good look at the warnings so that no one will be shocked at what they find in this fic. (No, it isn’t that shocking, but as I understand it, some of the unborn-babies-related issues may cause some upset.)
> 
> Written for _Tentacle Big Bang_ ; I have a faint recollection that the mod of said big bang, _**unavoidedcrisis**_ (LJ) may have thrown it out there that instead of traditional rapey-tentacles, there could be loving tentacles instead.
> 
> That’s how this story was born. Kind of.
> 
> (If you looked at the warnings, you’ll see that “loving” might not be the right word to use, which means I utterly failed at going down the non-rapey road, but there is lots of tentacle enjoyment in the paragraphs following these notes so I hope you’ll enjoy them regardless of the horrific undertones!)
> 
>  
> 
>  **Chapters and statuses:** Below you see the writing process of the story’s chapters. If there is no text after the chapter’s title, then it is finished and checked. Possible updates shall be marked after the title.
> 
>  
> 
> **1: Releaser**  
>  **2: Trail**  
>  **3: Sex**  
>  **4: Primer**  
>  **5: Signal**  
>  **6: Information**  
>  **7: Territorial**  
>  **8: Alarm**  
>  **9: Aggregation**  
>  **10: Appeasing**
> 
> * * *

****

## 1: Releaser

 

Tony Stark was at a large beach party in Miami, Florida. Not the _White Party_ , should anyone ask. Not that he had anything against it, and his skin looked awesome dressed all in white, but he knew Pepper would eat him alive should he ever even suggest taking part in that annual fundraiser event in person. Well, it was for a good cause so perhaps she would have relented if he insisted, but after becoming Iron Man and joining the Avengers, he knew Fury wouldn’t just roll his eye if he was caught on camera, grinding against some gorgeous thing. 

Fury didn’t have the sense of humor for that kind of thing, Tony was sure. 

So, he was at a party, on a beach, music playing loud – and he was already bored out of his skull. He was drinking, he had talked to about hundred people, most of whom first feigned interest in him, then as the night progressed the most daring ones attempted to fish for private details about the other Avengers. 

Not that Tony was above spreading rumors and half-truths, but half his team would break his bones for saying inappropriate things, and that half would also defend the honor of others who didn’t feel like doing their own dirty work. Tony might run his mouth on occasion – okay, more than ‘on occasion’ – but he wasn’t _that_ suicidal. And besides, he was an Avenger and he had some pride, so he wasn’t going to tell anyone how big Thor’s junk was, or if Black Widow wore underwear under her catsuit – or if she needed help peeling it off her sweaty skin post-battle. 

In summary, Tony was beginning to feel coming out here hadn’t been the best idea, although the invitation had been appealing and he had some personal friends out here, somewhere. Or maybe they had already left with a parade of girls and Tony should get his game face on as well, so as to avoid returning to the hotel alone. 

Tony dug out his phone and found a few new messages from Pepper, mostly reminding him of things he needed to do once he got back. No pleasure, just business; that’s how it had been ever since they rather gracefully bowed out of their relationship. It had worked for a few years, but Pepper wanted stability and Tony’s life didn’t offer that – nor was he willing to compromise. They had gone back to being friends, which shouldn’t have been so easy. 

He tapped a reply to a few other inquiries then switched to a more private account, noting that there were no disasters awaiting him back home; Bruce had sent him an equation he had just solved, which took Tony a few minutes to decipher; Steve had sent out next week’s meetings and training schedule, which Tony might or might not follow. 

Tony directed his attention back to the party, saw a throng of pretty young things and decided to put on the charm and not go home lonely tonight. 

It was immediately clear that he was still Tony Stark; in minutes he had the attention of five women and three men, making them laugh, giggle and blush. They wanted to drink with him, dance with him, and most likely fuck him, which had been his agenda for the night. Not that he’d had so many meaningless flings after Afghanistan, but if he got drunk enough, he might forget – and he could always keep his shirt on. No one would think twice about that. Tony was good at re-directing people’s attention, after all, to things he wanted them to see. 

“The fireworks are about to start,” one of the men said, glancing at his copy of a designer watch. Two of the women pulled Tony closer to the water so that they could see better, the rest of the entourage following with laughs and joyous voices. Not a care in the world… Tony had once imagined that hanging out in a crowd like this might make him forget all his problems, but it was becoming glaringly obvious it just made him think of all that was wrong with the world. 

A glass of expensive bourbon in his hand and dames on each side, Tony watched as the fireworks began. They lit up the sky and were quite spectacular, although Tony had seen better. _Ooh_ s and _ah_ s rose from the crowd that was gathering on the beach and some applauded at the biggest rockets and the brightest colors. 

In the midst of it all, Tony briefly thought he saw something flash in the wrong direction, a ball of fire careening towards the ground. He guessed it was just a rocket that had malfunctioned, yet his eyes followed its bright trail as it crashed down somewhere a few miles down the beach. No one seemed to be out there and there was no sign of damage, so he directed his attention back to the sky and sipped his drink. 

The woman on his left leaned closer, perfume and the faint edge of sweat filling his nose as she boldly cupped his ass. The motion aligned her impressive – yet fake – cleavage towards Tony’s eyes, so he didn’t bother to complain. 

* * *

Salt water washed over his skin. Fine grains of rock nestled between his fingers, sloshed back and forth by the restless ocean as he climbed onto dry land. The air had smelled of smoke, pollution drifting down from the sky, but it wasn’t unpleasant; his body was already adapting, his ship having circled the atmosphere long enough to enable him to survive on the planet’s surface once he descended. 

Earth. 

His eyes scanned the darkness. Vegetation and some animals lurked out there. 

None of the human-creatures were around, currently the highest rung on the evolutionary ladder on this planet; intelligent, relatively long-living, creative, having conquered all other life-forms. 

Suitable for his needs. 

He scanned the area further, the lights still filling the sky with explosions and smoke in colors and shapes that were perhaps meant to be pleasing to the human eye. Voices; a crowd of humans, a steady beat of some kind of sound – music – distorting the words which would have otherwise carried over. 

Across the sand and darkness, he began to move towards them. With their poor eyesight, the humans wouldn’t see him and as he stopped just at the edge of darkness, crouched low in vegetation, he could watch them instead. The noises and lights in the sky stopped with a last few echoes and the humans began to return to the brightly-lit area. He listened to their voices, rising and falling, tracking the movements of their bodies with his eyes. 

A smaller group remained on the dark beach and he looked at them instead; they didn’t follow the crowd, which was uncommon. There could be an attraction, something significant. His nostrils flared as the air stirred, carrying over their scents. He closed his eyes to savor it, to file away the information. 

Yes: uncommon and significant. The males and females, they all wanted to mate. The language of their bodies, the pitch in their voices, looks and touches… And in the center of it all stood one male, in control of the situation, and the others were vying for his attention. It was not a simple mating ritual, however. The one the others wanted was the target of their arousal, perhaps, but he wasn’t dominating the others. The male human wasn’t interested in choosing one of the others, which meant this crowd wasn’t worthy – not of his seed, nor his genes. 

As the male began to move back towards the lights and the area of festivities, the others followed, their desire still clear and partially being responded to, yet he saw the difference; it was meaningless. It wouldn’t lead to anything substantial. 

Purring softly, he drew further into the shadows, far away enough to not be spotted yet close enough to follow the events. He had found a perfect specimen. It was all a matter of patience and luring the male human to him once the less-deserving scavengers had been driven away. 

* * *

Tony was lying back on a couch on the patio. His right hand was rather idly teasing one of the women, two fingers inside her as she ground against his palm and sucked and kissed the side of his neck. His shirt was still on and there was no reason for it to come off, and she seemed intent on getting herself off like this. She had a very nice, talented mouth and if that other woman ever got beyond giving Tony looks that were supposed to be sexy and fondling him through his pants, maybe he would see if the one marking his neck might want to give his dick a similar treatment. 

Part of his entourage had vanished, yet one of the men was inching closer. He was young, reminding Tony a bit of how he used to be twenty-something years ago; a shy smile that was betrayed by the knowledgeable look in his eyes, his shorts already tented, the slowness of his approach merely testing the waters. 

Tony met his eyes and the guy smiled a bit, stepping over with confidence, and pushed the woman between Tony’s legs to the side; she had taken too long and had now lost her place. Tony didn’t mourn the loss of her as a warm hand slid inside his pants and underwear, unabashed and unapologetic, as the guy leaned up, equally confident as he fitted his lips on Tony’s. The woman who had been pushed aside giggled almost too excitedly from the side but the one still sucking his neck simply breathed hotly against the back of his ear; she knew what was really going on and Tony would gladly keep her for the rest of the night. 

The guy pulled back, briefly meeting his eyes. It really wasn’t necessary, seeing as his hand had already freed Tony’s dick, pumping it with all of his male knowledge. As he scooted down to proceed with the wordlessly promised blowjob, Tony sighed out a breath and adjusted his hand, making the woman at his side groan softly and lap at his jaw, then nip at the skin. 

Maybe if Tony asked nicely, she and the guy would take turns sucking him off. 

A vibration against his upper thigh brought him back to reality and he shifted a little to slide out his phone. He took two glances at the screen, just to be sure, then resisted a groan – which turned into an actual groan as the guy deep-throated him – and brought the phone to his ear. “I feel obliged to inform you that this is a very bad moment for me,” he said before the caller could make a sound. 

_“I hear you’re down in Florida,”_ Director Fury cut to the chase. 

“Enjoying it very much, too, thanks for asking,” Tony grinned although Fury hadn’t asked. If he’d had a hand free, he may have made an involuntary twitch towards the guy’s head because _damn_ , he knew how to suck cock. 

_“I have a job for you,”_ Fury went on. 

“Not available right now,” Tony noted a bit more breathily. The woman smiled against his neck and did she just reach down to tug on his balls? Yes, she did. Tony might just eat her out before the night was over. Her giggling friend had made herself scarce, seeing as this show was going to run its course without her, and the guy was shamelessly using his tongue in all the ways that wanted to make Tony ask what Fury was wearing, just for the hell of it. 

_“Well, when you are, I need you to check out a location on the beach. You shouldn’t be more than a couple miles out. An unknown object landed there and you’re the closest pair of eyes that I have.”_

That got Tony’s attention. His brain immediately recalled the burning flash during the fireworks. It was criminal how fast Fury could move him away from amazing sex to possible superhero business. At least his body wasn’t following his brain right away, his fingers still moving inside the wet heat of the woman who suddenly grasped his wrist, stilling his hand for her pleasure and came, grasping his face with the hand that had just been between his legs and claimed his mouth in a passionate kiss. 

_“Our satellites picked up an unknown object which fell from the sky. We’re trying to figure out where it came from and the data suggests it may have been floating in the thermosphere, undetected until it decided to drop down to Earth. The brief readings we got lean towards the possibility of an extraterrestrial life-form but the falling object was too small to be any kind of space ship.”_

The woman released his mouth and Tony cleared his throat. “You’re checking out the skies to see whether there’s more of where this piece came from, right?” 

_“As we speak.”_

“And you said there was an actual life-form detected in the falling object?” 

_“Could simply be some kind of bacteria, but I want you to check it out immediately.”_

Tony felt like pointing out he didn’t have the Iron Man armor with him and if this was some alien parasite, they might want a proper team working on this. “I’ll go and take a look,” he promised, though, never to admit he wasn’t capable of dealing with whatever Fury shoved in front of him. 

_“Report back once you have eyes on target.”_ And just like that, Fury disconnected the call, leaving Tony sort of hanging there – just like he was hanging in between intense arousal and an impending orgasm. 

The delightful lady, who now rested relaxed against his side, had slid her hand back down to assist the guy still working on bringing him off. A hint of nail against the sensitive skin behind his balls made him squeeze the muscles of his pelvic floor and the guy didn’t even pull off his dick as he came. 

They both looked at him once he was done and Tony gave them his best, almost-honest smile of apology. “Is there any way you two can be introduced to each other? There is something I need to take care of. Could be another alien invasion,” he joked, knowing pretty much everyone, anywhere, still remembered how the Avengers defeated the Chitauri in Manhattan. It may have been some years ago – and some huge missions in between – but sometimes the first thing stuck the best in the minds of humanity. 

“Sure thing, Mr. Stark,” the guy smiled at him and was already reaching for the woman as Tony slid off the couch and to the side. A quick trip to the bathroom was in order before he could leave the party and take a hike down the beach to see what had gotten Fury’s panties in a twist today. 

A quick wash, many faked apologies and even less genuine goodbyes later, Tony finally entered the darkness outside the lit-up area and wondered if he should go back to his hotel for supplies. Not that he had any, seeing as he hadn’t planned on this trip turning into another mission. Perhaps he should have known better. 

He recalled the direction where he had seen the ball of fire make contact. From the beach, it hadn’t seemed too far off, but in the semi-darkness and sand filling his shoes, he wasn’t certain if taking this trip unprepared had been the best idea. Chances were the thing had hit the water, not the beach, and he wasn’t going diving after it. Maybe he should call J.A.R.V.I.S. and have the AI fly one of his suits down here. 

A sound to his right made him stop and look out into the dark line of trees. The wind created sounds all around him and there were probably animals about, maybe even some drunken couple doing it in the trees. Tony resisted the urge to undo his shirt and allow the arc reactor to cast out its glow; he knew the darkness would swallow it and it would get better once his eyes got used to the lack of light. 

He went on walking, one foot slipping into the water when he didn’t pay enough attention to the changes in the curves of the sand. It made his already sand-filled shoe feel a lot less comfortable and he debated just taking them off, yet walking bare-foot in the middle of the night was just asking for trouble. 

Another sound, as if something were being dragged through the vegetation, drew Tony’s attention and he wondered if there were snakes here – or, better yet, alligators. 

Nothing attacked him, however, but that didn’t make him any less suspicious of the things he couldn’t see. He was debating going back or really making that call to J.A.R.V.I.S., trying to calculate how long it would take the suit to fly out here and how much of a pain it would be to put it on manually. All that left Tony unprepared when suddenly there was a _shape_ in front of him, almost a head taller and he knew it wasn’t a goddamn tree which had just jumped in there out of nowhere. 

Tony’s right hand flew up, mimicking what had become a reflex when in the Iron Man armor and having a repulsor ray to blast at whatever or whoever spooked him. He wasn’t armed right now, however, so it was just an empty gesture. 

Something slightly slippery wrapped around his wrist in response. 

_Not good_ , Tony’s mind yelled at him as he moved his left hand to free the other one, then suddenly a cloud of something hit him in the face, thicker and sweeter than the air, like a coating of dust leaving a surface or a pollen-filled day in the early summer. He wanted to sneeze or brush his nose in order to get it out of his nasal cavity. That’s when he realized he had inhaled – which only made him inhale again instead of holding his breath. 

A tickling tingling went all the way from his nose down his throat. The sweet smell turned slightly saltier and he could taste it on his tongue. The slippery sensation of _something_ holding his wrist captive was suddenly warm and comforting, like something sticky and disgusting which actually felt very good when you allowed yourself to like the sensation. His stomach clenched, along with what felt like his entire insides and his head felt hot, way too hot – but only in a good way, not the feverish kind. Like when he was really nicely buzzed and it felt like he would never suffer from a hangover again. 

The shape had now formed into… not a person, definitely _not_ a person; it had a torso, two legs and two arms, and a head sitting on the bony shoulders, but there were also something like tentacles – one of them still wrapped around his wrist – leaving its body. In the darkness it was hard to tell how many there were and where and how exactly they connected to the skin, but the one holding his wrist had strength in it, possibly more than Tony had in his whole arm. 

As he blinked, overcome by the sudden sensations – most of which his brain failed to process into something comprehensible – the face moved forward. Tony saw eyes, two of them, positioned like a human’s. There was also a shape like a nose between them, only much flatter and besides the fairly normal looking nostrils beneath the small bump, there were long, narrow ones on each side of the nose, reminding him a little of the gills of a fish or a shark. The nostrils – gills – flared, as if inhaling, each of the small shudders capturing his attention. The mouth beneath them opened, revealing… was it more tentacles? Those tentacles were small, thinner than a pen, surrounding the mouth from all sides, thinning as they stretched out. Beneath them was a lipless orifice and a hint of teeth that were smaller and numerous compared to what Tony had in his own mouth. 

The face hovered closer and Tony tilted his head. An intense _want_ took him over, filling him with giddy heat from head to toe and he breathed in deeply as the alien face touched his, tentacles reaching all over his face, as far as to his ears and neck, dragging against the skin with what felt like suction cups although he hadn’t seen any. It felt like there would be a hundred small, red marks left afterwards and he didn’t mind, didn’t care. 

A laugh snapped Tony out of it and the tentacles retreated, even the one around his wrist. Leaves shook and a couple, drunk and oblivious, sprung from the trees onto the beach, screaming, yelling and laughing. 

Tony watched them as if they were a completely alien concept, then snapped his attention back to – 

The shape was gone. The creature, alien – whatever it had been – had disappeared and a sudden panic clutched his chest so tight he thought he might faint. 

“Hey, dude! You mind giving us some privacy?” the guy yelled and both he and the girl laughed madly as if it were funny somehow. They went back to mauling each other, tangled and preparing to fuck in the sand no doubt. 

Tony felt like snarling at them, seeing as he had been here first, but he was alone and desperately wanted to change that. He turned, ready to head off although who knows where – then caught a whiff of something that made his eyes roll back in his head. 

The last time Tony had follow a smell anywhere had been when he was a kid and someone was baking in their house. This was almost as good, the certainty of a sweet reward in his mind as he followed the trail into the trees, leaving the drunken couple to their activities. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	2. Trail

****

## 2: Trail

 

The human male left the others eventually, finding satisfaction and moving on. 

It was a sign this was meant to be; the human moved into the darkness near the water, alone, as if searching for something. 

He didn’t have to search for long. 

When the human was close enough, he moved towards him from the shadows. The human heard his approach yet couldn’t see him until he was close, right before him – and then it was too late for him to avoid the inevitable. The human tried to fight, body poised to defend himself, but he held him firmly and released the pheromones that had been building up inside him in anticipation of this moment. 

The human inhaled and his body soon flared up with signals the human race had no use for – but he could read them, discovering things about his biology he hadn’t been aware of before and changing his own signals accordingly. The human fell for it, his body responding, overriding his conscious mind; biology could not be controlled by thoughts. 

He had the male right where he wanted him, accepting him and _wanting_ him – until those two noisy humans emerged from the trees, startling them. He could not be seen, not yet. His connection to his chosen male wasn’t firm enough yet, but he had sunk in the hooks and had no cause for concern; he left a trail for him to follow. While he worked to find them a suitable, safe place away from interruptions, the male would follow him there. 

* * *

Dawn was only hours away. There still wasn’t any light but Tony didn’t dare slow down; the scent was getting weaker and the trail might run cold. He cursed every breath of wind that forced him to stop and wait, to re-confirm the direction he was going. 

As the sky began to slowly light up, Tony blinked against it. The world looked strange to him, the colors and sounds off, but he could almost see the trail he was following, along small, shadowy roads, pathways and alleys, away from the traffic and commotion of early morning. 

When he finally squeezed through a hole in a wire fence, he stopped to inhale sharply at the rusty, weather-beaten metal. His eyes closed and his body heated up again. He was close, so close… Wriggling his body the rest of the way through and to the other side, he arrived at an old factory or warehouse, long out of commission by the looks of it. Kids and the homeless had probably been the only occupants here for years, the windows either boarded up or broken, some of the doors hanging open yet unwelcoming to anyone who might venture indoors into the dark depths of the abandoned building. 

Tony sniffed, the scent filling him, marking the route he should take; around a building, along a wall, until he found stairs leading down and to a door that was shut but not locked. He opened it, shaking with anticipation, and finally, in the musty air and darkness the filthy shuttered windows provided, he knew he had found the other. 

The alien let out a sound that traveled all the way to the base of Tony’s spine, making his legs feel a bit weak. He struggled to move his feet, to cross the distance, then finally felt the touch of the tentacles on his skin again, soothing, welcoming. The air smelled sweet next to the other, filling his nose and lungs, making him moan and sweat profusely beneath his clothing. 

Another sound, not so much like a purr as it was a hungry growl. 

Tony felt his skin flush in response and he was suddenly wearing too many clothes, each of them confining and blocking the touch he wanted, _needed_. 

Hands touched his face, soft and cool. The fingers were almost frail, yet sharp talon-like claws scratched at his skin and were soon removed before they could make him bleed, replaced by the soft caress of the tentacles, drawing Tony into another half-kiss which warmed him from the inside and felt so much more intimate than anything he had ever done. His entire life paled in comparison to this moment and he moaned, pure and wanton, feeling sharp teeth nip at his lower lip, making it bleed. He whined and a tongue licked it away, rough and pointed. 

The small tentacles of the other’s face, which had slowly crept forward again, retreated slowly, leaving Tony confused and meeting the strange, backwards eyes of the other: altogether black save for what looked like transparent irises. The four nostrils flared, the mouth moving, the small face-tentacles flaring as if savoring something – savoring him. 

As if Tony’s proximity gave the alien as much pleasure as he felt now that they were together again. 

“I need,” Tony started, then felt his chest tighten again as he wasn’t completely certain of what to say. 

“Yes,” the other responded, its voice throaty and rough, yet rising with a note of tenor. “I will have you.” 

Tony pressed his body closer then huffed out a desperate breath; a barrier was still between them, annoying and rough. He wanted to feel the other like a second skin, next to his own. 

He moved back an inch and started tearing off his clothes which stood in the way of what he wanted as badly as the air he breathed – the sweet-smelling, mind-tingling air that made his skin flush hard as soon as he stood there naked, the light of the arc reactor the only thing between them as he moved forward again. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	3. Sex

****

## 3: Sex

 

Tony had never felt so horny in his entire life. It felt clichéd to put it like that, because this was beyond sexual frustration. 

His body was hot, growing slick with sweat even though he stood naked in an underground room which had to be cooler than the early morning air outside. In the back of his mind he recalled the party, the company he’d had, and there was no way his body should have been up for this again already but he was hard and aching. 

Tentacles slipped over his skin, making him flush hard, increasing the heat. It was as if he were being ravaged by extreme fever, but instead of sickness and lethargy he felt alive and jubilant, filled with energy to do what his body craved so badly. The touch was everywhere, mapping out his skin. One traced his lips, the spot the alien had bit earlier. Tony opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue and met the questing appendage. The first taste was odd, salty and something unidentifiable. He felt the slickness, too, and the surface that caused a delicious drag on his skin when pressed against him the right way, and he wasn’t exactly inviting it in but when the tentacle moved forward, following his tongue in, he let it, closing his eyes, toying with it as it toyed with him. 

His attention was narrowing and the tentacle in his mouth pushed deeper, tickling his throat and provoking a reaction, moving back to let him swallow and breathe before he could begin to gag. They made a game of it until Tony got used to the sensation and the other could press further, past his gag reflex until he needed room to breathe. 

Eventually the tentacle moved back, though, and Tony tried to chase it, opening his eyes. He met the alien gaze, felt the small tentacles on his face, drawing him in, holding his attention. Tony grew aware of the rest of his body again, feeling strangely out of it, but now that he was back the sensations slammed home with a vengeance. Several appendages were tracing his flanks, his backside, his genitals, and one was zeroing in on his ass, moving over the hole, past it, then dragging backwards again as if knowing it had missed something. 

Tony couldn’t help a moan as the tip poked at the resistance, the muscles clenching although there was a need, deep in his gut, for him to relax. He wanted this to happen, wanted the other inside him, in every way possible, and… 

He blinked. It didn’t make sense. Well, it did, because he knew how good it could feel, from past experience, but somewhere on the edge of the haze a nagging voice kept telling him something was off – 

Tony’s face was pulled forward to the other’s, the long tongue in his mouth and his breath stolen away until he was allowed to inhale and it felt like he had stepped into cloud, so thick he could barely breathe. His heart was hammering against his ribs, in his throat, and his legs grew weak from the overpowering need for more. 

“Come,” the other said lovingly, gently, pulling him along to the side, deeper into the room. There was another room, like a storage area, and several old mattresses were laid out in the back. Dirty as they were, dusty and perhaps moldy as well, Tony welcomed the softness and lay down, drawing the other down after him. 

The tentacles were everywhere. Tony panted for air as his cock was grasped, bordering on painful yet the heat inside him took the edge off, making him buzz with a need for more. A tentacle – perhaps the one from before – pressed at his asshole then breached him slowly, almost carefully. It felt slicker than the others, as if it was adding a natural lubricant as it went, easing the way. Tony’s hips twitched in response, the unnatural wriggling sensation almost pushing him over the edge. 

His eyes went wide as it shoved at his prostate, passing it, then tracked back, testing again as if pushing a button to see if it produced the same result as before. Tony moaned and bucked more forcefully, yet the tentacle was too bendy to actually rut against. However, the part inside him pressed relentlessly now, rubbing and finding the right angle. 

“Fuck, yes,” Tony hissed, closing his eyes, throwing his head back. It had never been this good, never in his life. Everything else was secondary and it felt almost like the thing was sucking at him from the inside before finding just the right rhythm – 

He came so hard he could see only bright spots for a moment, breaths labored and muscles almost cramping from how good it felt. When he managed to see again – or feel, for that matter – the tentacle was still inside him, smoothing over the sensitive spot, caressing it. A stretch followed it, even yet noticeable, and Tony frowned, trying to locate it since it felt like his brain had suddenly been wired the wrong way. 

The alien eyes regarded him and Tony looked back, inhaling the sweet smell, the hint of his own arousal, and then he felt another tentacle pushing into him, the even pressure making him sigh and groan, wanting to move, but he found his legs spread and held in place, the hold on them firm yet loving. 

Tony reached down with his right hand, re-discovering his arms, tracing his own thigh and then the tentacle wrapped around it, the difference in texture intriguing him. He followed the appendage back towards the alien form, finding it disappearing smoothly into the lower back, a natural extension of the body, full of life and strength. 

His wrist was caught, wrapped in a secure hold and dragged upwards, across his body and placed on the mattress by his head. Tony looked at the transparent-on-black eyes and smiled, then felt another tentacle caress his cheek. He turned his face and kissed it, then licked and sucked its side as the ones inside him resumed moving – when had they stopped? Pleasure began coiling inside him again, his cock hard as if he hadn’t already come twice tonight, yet it was undeniable and he needed this, needed the other. 

His left hand joined the right, trapping him as his legs were pushed further apart by another inch, leaving him spread and defenseless. Tony swallowed and inhaled as yet another slippery tentacle trailed down to his hole, pushing its thinner head in, worming its way further. His body relaxed around the intrusion, leaving him shivering as two appendages spread him open as the third – or the first – continued to relentlessly rub against his prostate, the pleasure coursing through him and building up, making him twitch and shake. 

The tentacles on his front wrapped around his cock and balls, alternating between shifting and squeezing, then one lay across the head of his cock and it literally felt like he was being sucked, intensely. Like someone turned on the vacuum. 

Tony’s hips shot up as far up as they could and he came for the third time, sounds ripping from his throat and drowning him in the exquisite mix of pain and pleasure. It was over so fast, his entire body spent, yet waves kept rushing across his body, making him jerk as the tentacles withdrew and his spent cock lay against his thigh. 

The alien moved above him, touches chasing the sensations across his skin. Then, finally, Tony felt himself being pulled close into a firm, unyielding, yet loving embrace and his eyes closed and mind drifted off, unable to hold on to the moment because he required rest. 

“Mine,” a voice hummed in his ear. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	4. Primer

****

## 4: Primer

 

When Tony stirred again, it took him a while to recall what exactly had happened, where he was – and whom he was with. He felt slightly disoriented, yet not sick. If he’d gotten smashed last night, this was perhaps the least painful morning in memory. 

Blinking, he looked to the side and wondered if he had scored some drugs instead, because that would explain a lot – starting with the alien version of Davy Jones from the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movies. However, as soon as that thought crossed his mind, he felt peace descend upon him; an absolute belief that all was right and well in the world; that this was where he should be. 

The transparent-on-black eyes opened, the irises barely contracting as a reaction to the weak light in the room. 

The room… 

Tony looked around, seeing the dirty walls, dusty floors, a pile of mattresses beneath them. It was horrible, abandoned and smelly, but his mind just didn’t seem capable of reacting to this as he usually would, which would have been deep repulsion. Instead he just let it go, turning back to the other and leaning closer. 

Tentacles began to move across his skin, and Tony’s entire body flushed in reaction. The damp, stale smell of the air was replaced by something sweeter that made his head spin. His face was caressed, intimately and lovingly, small nips of teeth exciting him and keeping his attention from slipping. 

Tony studied the face in front of him as his blood pumped hotter. He didn’t feel hunger or thirst, just content to be here. All other needs were gone, giving him a peace he hadn’t known for a long time – perhaps ever. 

“What’s your name?” he breathed out, wanting to know. It was important: he should know what to call the other. 

“I have never been called anything,” the alien replied. 

Tony blinked. “Never? By anyone?” That was wrong; everyone should have a name, something to use to refer to themselves at least. He smiled, recalling his earlier thought. “I shall call you Davy, then,” he suggested. 

“If you want,” the other replied, still caressing him, not appearing to mind. “You have a name?” 

“Tony,” he said earnestly, happy to give his companion that much of himself. 

“Tony,” Davy tasted the word then let out that purring sound – as if he liked it, which made Tony unreasonably happy. 

That happiness transformed into something else: his naked skin became sensitive, needing more of those touches, and it was as if a switch had been flipped inside him. The need returned, arousal and want consuming him. Tony didn’t know why exactly but he chose that moment to roll over, onto his stomach, then pulled his legs beneath him and lifted his ass, his back arching low as he presented himself to the alien in an attempt to signal what he wanted. 

It made no sense, but that didn’t matter. Rational thinking disappeared as tentacles traced his backside, making his thighs quiver in anticipation as he held his position, breathing hard, so ready for it… 

The first sensation of a tentacle slipping inside him made him keen and press his cheek into the dirty mattress. His chest ached from the stretch, the arc reactor pressing against his ribs and lungs but that was secondary to the sensation of being taken. A second tentacle joined the first, spreading slickness inside him and stretching him. There was discomfort but no pain. 

A new smell hit him and he craned his neck to look back, to see Davy and confirm what some primal part of his brain was telling him. Between the alien thighs, something emerged from the folds of skin. It grew erect and the air was filled with the odor of lust and coupling, making Tony’s body respond in kind, his mouth open and panting as the tentacles held him open and Davy moved behind him, that slim organ pushing in between the tentacles, swelling slightly. 

Tony closed his eyes and rocked back. It was like someone was repeatedly pressing the overload-button in his brain and when the alien behind him began to thrust, almost violently, Tony clenched his fingers in the mattress and took it, embracing it, floating in the scents, finally feeling filled with the rush of a warm, tingling sensation. 

Davy pulled back slowly but the tentacles remained, pushing impossibly deep as if delivering his seed the rest of the way into the depths of Tony’s body – so deep it would never come out. The pressure shifted to drag across his prostate and Tony came with a sudden shout, body jerking before he collapsed, panting and drifting off in a matter of seconds. 

* * *

When he awakened, it was to find that Davy was gone. The scent in the air suggested he would return soon, though. 

Tony waited, biting his lips, not moving away from the mattresses. The lack of light suggested it was late so that meant he had slept for most of the day. 

When Davy returned, it was with several bottles of water. He put them down upon reaching their makeshift bed and leaned forward to caress Tony’s body, as if to make sure he was alright. Tony leaned into him, kissed the tentacles in passing, then realized he was thirsty and reached for a bottle. He didn’t ask where the alien had got them; he was thankful, happy to accept the gifts. 

Once he had had a drink, Davy slid back onto the mattresses with him, still examining his body. It felt like the most natural thing for Tony to present himself again, feeling the biological need arise to couple, to have the other inside him, to be filled and taken care of… 

* * *

Sleep, sex and a drink of water was what filled Tony’s hours. 

After the mad need for sex was fulfilled, he would lie next to Davy and explore his body, thriving in the closeness, licking, kissing and tasting every inch of him as he was caressed and loved in return. The light of the arc reactor filled the dark hours, making the black eyes seem even darker yet illuminated from within. 

Eventually, though, it wasn’t enough. Tony’s body demanded food and he needed to see the sun, not just feel it through the dirty windows. It was time to leave, to go home, and he ventured out of their small hideaway, finding his clothes where he had left them when he first arrived. They were dirty from lying on the floor but he didn’t care, pulling them on and then looking at his alien lover, reaching out. “I will take you with me,” he said – pleaded. 

Most of the tentacles lay against Davy’s body and an arm reached out, thin, clawed fingers carefully wrapping around his fingers. Tony smiled and pulled them towards the door. 

It was after midnight and the darkness cloaked them well. Tony had to think for a moment, to recall where he had left the car; at the hotel. 

Where were they now? 

He looked around then reached for his pocket, giving up on his navigational skills. Pulling out his phone, he noted it was shut down. When had that happened? Maybe when he first entered the building; he had a faint recollection of not wanting to be disturbed, that he knew he wanted to be left alone with the other once he found him again. 

Switching it on and logging in, Tony was at once assaulted by several notifications for unanswered calls and messages ranging from Pepper to all the Avengers – even Fury. He dismissed them for now and connected with J.A.R.V.I.S. instead. 

_“Sir,”_ the AI responded promptly, _“there have been deep concerns for your sudden disappearance.”_

“Yeah?” Tony frowned. 

_“You have been missing for four days, sir. Shall I alert the Avengers to your location?”_

“No, don’t,” Tony said quickly. “Just… get me a ride or something.” 

_“Very well, sir.”_ At least J.A.R.V.I.S. knew when not to ask questions. 

It was only some time later that a cab arrived, stopping next to them. Tony knew that in such a remote area, there was only one reason for a cab to be here at this precise time and he got in, Davy following him. 

The driver looked through the rear-view mirror, checking them out – then almost jumped out of his skin, twisted in his seat and stared at Davy as if he’d just seen an alien. 

“Drive,” Tony snapped, offended. He gave the name of the hotel where his car was still parked, most likely, and stared at the driver until he turned back around and started driving. Sometimes it was good being an Avenger; people would count on them to encounter all sorts of alien life forms. 

Tony looked at Davy, smiling softly, then leaned slightly against him and felt tentacles wrap comfortingly around his middle and neck. All was well in the world. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	5. Signal

****

## 5: Signal

 

When J.A.R.V.I.S. informed them that Tony had finally made contact, he had been missing for four days. Fury had called them the morning after he’d last spoken to Tony, informing the Avengers about the possibility that something had gone wrong in Miami and that whatever Tony may have found on the beach might be dangerous. 

Steve’d had several things on his mind that he had been tempted to voice about sending Tony to investigate on his own – a possible alien aircraft no less. He had swallowed it for the time being, taken his team to Miami, and found nothing at all. They had then tried to widen their search to find any sign of their lost teammate, but came up empty. 

There was nothing for four days, until Tony suddenly called J.A.R.V.I.S. and – according to the AI – sounded okay. The news that he was heading home was a relief and Steve could barely wait for an explanation for Tony’s sudden disappearance and just as sudden reappearance. 

Fury had, of course, asked for an immediate debriefing once Tony got back to the Avengers Tower, but Steve’s first priority was to make sure Tony was okay and wasn’t hiding anything. 

Pepper Potts arrived before Tony got back, pacing the living room floor in a nervous manner. Those four days hadn’t been easy on her and she had been in constant contact with the Avengers to make sure they hadn’t forgotten to inform her of any developments. 

“Maybe he just went on a bender,” Clint suggested. “Fucked his way across Miami.” 

“Immediately after Fury called him about an unidentified falling object?” Bruce raised an eyebrow. He had been on edge ever since Tony went missing but seemed to be faring better now. They would all be feeling better once Tony finally arrived at the Tower. 

“Maybe he was kidnapped by aliens,” Clint grinned at his newest theory. “They poked and prodded him with alien tools, sodomizing –” 

Steve threw him a warning look and Clint left the rest for them to guess. 

After waking up from the ice, Steve had been sufficiently caught up with the world – including urban legends of alien abductions and their sexual experiments. All the aliens they had seen so far hadn’t had any interest in such activities, however, so he knew Clint was just making light of the situation which still had the possibility of being serious; just because Tony sounded like he was okay didn’t mean he was. 

When the elevator finally moved down to the private garage, then began to climb again, everyone looked at the number display until it stopped at their current floor. Pepper had stopped pacing and stood in front of the doors, chest heaving slightly, watching raptly as the doors slid open. 

“Tony Stark!” she started an angry tirade which barely concealed the worry beneath every syllable – then promptly screamed and jumped back, although on those heels it was more like a few hasty stutters. 

Steve and the other Avengers were already on their feet, alarmed by her sudden reaction, and the fact that she wasn’t moving towards the elevator, which led to the possibility it wasn’t an injured, bleeding Tony she was looking at. 

Tony stepped out, giving Pepper an odd, almost offended look, and something followed him out before the doors closed. 

“Holy shit,” Clint swore. “What the hell is that thing?” 

“You said something about aliens earlier,” Natasha muttered and was already reaching for the weapon strapped to the small of her back. 

“Everyone, meet Davy,” Tony introduced the humanoid with strange tentacles all over its body. Clawed, frail-looking fingers flexed slightly as it surveyed the room with a pair of dark eyes which reflected the light strangely. 

“Davy?” Bruce was the first to recover, taking a step forward. His body was tense, his voice cautious – meaning the Hulk was only seconds away from making an appearance should the newcomer prove itself a threat. 

“Yeah,” Tony shrugged then reached back. One of the tentacles wrapped around his wrist and hand, which was probably better than those claws digging into Tony’s skin. “He didn’t have a name, so I gave him one.” 

“You adopted an alien?” Clint blinked and looked around swiftly, probably wondering where his nearest bow was and what else he could use as a weapon. 

“I didn’t _adopt_ him,” Tony almost seethed at them, clearly insulted. “He’s my lover.” 

Steve admitted his jaw had a life of its own for the few next seconds, trying to not hit the floor while he knew he should say _something_. 

“What the _hell_ happened in Miami?” Pepper finally asked – or screeched. 

Tony shrugged again, then smiled softly as another one of those tentacles reached out, caressing his neck. Now that Steve looked, he could see marks all over his features, most of them very faint and already disappearing, but there were something like love-bites all over his neck. “I need a shower,” Tony announced. “And food. Not eating for four days has left me famished and it was a long drive back up. We’ll be in my room but please don’t disturb us for at least the next twenty hours.” 

“Wait,” Steve finally rediscovered his voice, walking over to where Pepper was still standing, looking at Davy the alien in horror. “Where were you for four days? Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Never better, Cap,” Tony reassured him lightly. 

“You just said you didn’t eat for four days,” Steve reminded him. If Tony hadn’t been eating – and it sounded like that hadn’t been voluntary… “What were you doing for four days?” he asked, not sure he should believe the answer but wanting one anyway. 

Tony grinned and turned a bit towards the alien, caressing its face and that was one of the most disturbing visions Steve had ever seen in his life, because such _devotion_ and _love_ didn’t happen overnight – and not even in four days. “I’m not sure your 40’s sensibilities can handle the answer to that.” 

Steve showed no reaction, pushing it away, knowing this wasn’t the time to say _he didn’t need to hear such things_ because obviously this was a glaring exception to his usual rule; this wasn’t just some unnecessary comment that needed self-censoring, but an answer to the enigma of Tony’s disappearance. 

“You were fucking for four days,” Bruce shot from the side, unabashed and unrelenting, moving forward as well. “Tony, let me take you to the lab for a moment, run some tests –” 

“Much as I would love to take some lab time with you, Bruce, I have other things I must attend to,” Tony replied, and again those tentacles caressed him, even sliding beneath his clothes, and Steve could only just watch in horror because Tony seemed to _enjoy_ it. 

“Fury wants a debrief,” Natasha reminded them from where she still stood beside Clint, a safe distance away should she need to attack. 

“It can wait,” Tony replied. 

“You’re four days late on your report.” 

“Fuck that!” Tony snapped, voice darker, expression switching in a heartbeat. “I don’t care what he wants, or any of you for that matter. Just leave me alone for a few fucking hours.” And just like that he marched out, taking the alien with him, and Steve was certain he didn’t imagine the dark look he got from Davy before they left the room. 

* * *

The air in the Avengers Tower was getting increasingly poisonous. 

Tony spent almost twenty-four hours in his room before emerging, and whenever someone saw him, he was flanked by that tentacly-alien, Davy. Fury had come down in person to check on the situation, debriefing all of them, but J.A.R.V.I.S. refused to let anyone into Tony’s private quarters so they had to wait for him to come out. 

Whatever had happened in Miami stayed a secret because Tony wouldn’t spill, going all dewy-eyed at his ‘lover’ instead. It was clear his description of Davy was very apt, though, because those two were going at it like rabbits in heat. The whole thing was disturbing on a level that even S.H.I.E.L.D. rarely had to deal with but Clint didn’t dare to look away, to _not_ follow Tony whenever he could to make sure he saw every detail of what took place – and could act accordingly when the time came. 

Fury had been furious, but as long as Tony wasn’t cooperating, the Director had to swallow his anger and wait it out; no one was going to forcefully remove Tony from his own home – not with J.A.R.V.I.S. in control of everything. Not even Fury was mad enough to do it, although Clint knew that if the situation started to get threatening, they would have to make their move. 

Pepper had tried talking to Tony a few times, but it seemed Tony’s attention span wasn’t at its best. Eventually she had to step back, demanding that the Avengers do _something_ , but as long as Tony seemed to be a willing participant in… _whatever_ it should be called, what could they do? 

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Pepper said, fear in her voice as they sat around the kitchen table late one night. “I mean, yes, a few times in the past but it only lasted a day at the most, with someone who impressed him in bed. He’s never gotten this attached – not even with me.” 

“He isn’t himself,” Bruce agreed, a dark look on his face. 

“Just because he doesn’t want to play with you in the lab doesn’t make him a brainwashed drone,” Clint teased him carefully but knew not to do more than that; Bruce had been on edge ever since Tony returned home and it hadn’t gotten better. A few times he had muttered that the other guy didn’t like this one bit and if the Hulk was bleeding through his iron control, Clint knew perhaps they should prepare for the worst. 

What that worst would be, he wasn’t exactly sure. 

“He seems… to be enjoying himself,” Natasha said cautiously. “I mean, his body language suggests…” 

“What?” Steve asked. 

“Don’t you see it?” Natasha asked them. 

“You read people better than anyone,” Steve prodded her on by complimenting her skills. 

She shrugged, dismissive, but went on: “You don’t see this kind of connection with most couples. It’s obvious Tony is a willing participant – too willing – and displaying himself at all possible times for the benefit of that _thing_.” Most of them didn’t call the alien by the name Tony had given it. 

“I’m not sure I follow,” Pepper said uncertainly. “I know he basks in the attention of the… of Davy,” she forced out, as if she were trying to accept the alien’s presence if it made Tony happy. 

“It’s more than that,” Natasha frowned. “It’s like the hormones that tell us we’re in love have been maxed out in his brain. I walked in on them earlier today, and Tony was…” There was a long pause, which wasn’t like her; most things didn’t shock her, or make her avert her gaze. “He was posturing himself for the thing, sexually. Like an animal in heat.” 

“Maybe he really, _really_ likes the sex?” Clint threw it out there but knew it wouldn’t stick. 

“He’s not himself,” Bruce repeated, glaring at the room. It looked like he wasn’t even listening but simply repeating the same thing over and over, although clearly he was paying attention and Clint wondered if perhaps they should ask whether Bruce wanted a time-out from all this. 

“We need to talk to him,” Steve finally said. They had tried before, but it usually ended in hot, angry words on Tony’s part at the first insinuation that there was something wrong with his relationship with his beloved tentacle-face. Clint knew he wouldn’t be the one made to reason with Tony, but he knew the result would impact all of them. 

Pepper sighed mournfully and nodded, looking like she was contemplating giving up on understanding the situation and just opting to roll with it. 

That would have been the easy way, sure, but anyone who had seen Tony recently could tell something wasn’t right. 

* * *

Thor’s arrival back to Earth couldn’t have come at a better time. 

Any attempts to reason with Tony had turned into an ugly exchange of words or a complete dismissal from the man. Save for unleashing the Hulk and having him break into Tony’s rooms, they weren’t going to get to him if the man so desired – and that’s what he did. 

Thor had been gone for months, back in Asgard, and his return was unexpected; he just dropped out of the sky, entering through the balcony doors with a loud greeting and a grin on his lips. “Avengers! How fare thee?” 

“Thor!” Steve exclaimed loudly, standing up in surprise. “You’re back.” 

“Indeed I am,” the God of Thunder still grinned. 

“Good,” Clint shot up as well, “we have a bit of a problem and maybe you can use that hammer of yours to knock some sense into Tony.” 

“What ails him?” Thor frowned, placing Mjolnir carefully on the floor. 

“Nothing!” Tony’s voice called out and Steve cringed inwardly. He turned to watch as Tony entered the room, the alien trailing him. He wondered how much of their current predicament they would have to explain to Thor in order for him to understand – for all he knew, Thor might embrace the love between two different races, even when they were very different in physical appearance – but apparently he needn’t have worried: as soon as Davy the alien entered the room, one of the tentacles caressing Tony’s wrist, Mjolnir slammed up into Thor’s hand and the Asgardian raised it with a furious snarl. 

“Parasite!” Thor thundered. “You will release the Man of Iron or I shall roast you to the core with my lightning!” 

“Hey!” Tony snapped angrily. “What the hell?! You haven’t even been introduced!” 

“This creature,” Thor pointed with his free hand, “is a menace. You will do wisely to remove yourself from within its grasp.” 

Instead of doing that, Tony stepped back, shielding the alien with his body, regardless of being the shorter of the two. “He’s not for you to hurt.” 

Thor frowned, lowering the hammer slightly. The air still seemed to crackle with tension, however, and Steve felt every hair on his body stand at attention. “These vermin spread from one world to the next, from the dark edges of space. Breeding, laying their eggs; ensnaring the minds of their victims with lies and deceit.” He gave Tony a careful look and a solemn expression took over his features. “How long have you been in this parasite’s proximity?” 

“None of your business,” Tony snapped. 

“It’s been almost two weeks,” Steve replied, earning a biting look from Tony that reminded him of rockier times in their relationship. 

Another growl sliced through the air and Thor took a step forward. “You must listen to me, Tony Stark! It may already be too late. Have you surrendered yourself to this creature?” 

“Repeatedly,” Clint said, but instead of rolling his eyes he was watching the situation and edging his hand towards the hidden knife on his belt. 

That seemed to finalize Thor’s resolve, his expression urgent as he looked at Tony. “Your mind is not your own, my friend. This vermin is controlling you –” 

“Get out,” Tony ordered. “If that’s all you have to say, I don’t have to listen to it in my own home. Davy is part of my life and just because you think you know him doesn’t mean…” He stopped mid-sentence, blinking rapidly. 

Steve took a step forward. “Tony?” 

The man held a hand up. “I’ll… get right back to this.” And then turned and left the room, holding his stomach and rushing in the direction of the nearest bathroom. 

Davy the alien remained standing where he was and a warning hiss rose from him as he faced Thor. “I am under Tony’s protection,” it declared. 

“I shall squash you beneath my hammer,” Thor began. 

_“Mr. Odinson, must I remind you that whilst you are under Mr. Stark’s roof, you are required to do as he says,”_ J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted. _“Davy is under his protection. If you defy this fact, I shall have to ask you to leave – or remove you from the premises.”_

The alien looked entirely too satisfied with this and Thor lowered Mjolnir with a baleful look in its direction. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	6. Information

****

## 6: Information

 

Tony lunged at the toilet, almost smashing his forehead into the porcelain as he threw up violently. By the time he was finished, his stomach was cramping from the effort and his throat was on the painful side of sore. With a groan he crawled over to the sink, finding a glass and consuming half a dozen cups of water. 

_“Sir,”_ J.A.R.V.I.S. said softly, not intruding but making his presence known. 

Tony closed his eyes, feeling another wave of nausea rising. He tried to resist it, to hold it in, but it was like fighting a tidal wave and he started moving to the side, back to the bowl. He missed it by a half foot, throwing up all over the tiled floor. It was mostly water by now, the contents of his stomach already swimming in the bowl. 

With a groan he forced himself up, despite the pain, flushed and tried to clean up his face then struggled out of the bathroom. “J.A.R.V.I.S.,” he called out, “open the lab, prep the machinery.” 

_“Is there something in particular you would like to do, sir?”_

“Warm up the scanner,” Tony grunted, hitting the button of the elevator that would take him to his private lab. His insides, which had been on fire earlier, were calming down a little, but he felt swollen and bloated in places where he shouldn’t be and how hadn’t he noticed it before? As the elevator moved, he leaned heavily against a wall, lifted up his shirt and just stared at himself for a moment. From the front, it was all normal, but when he managed to turn and look again… 

Thor’s words, although unwelcome at the time, rattled around in his head. 

The lab was already blinking with lights when he got there and he took off his shirt – and his pants for good measure – before stepping into the scanner he normally used to test the Iron Man armor’s function and density. However, in the light of the palladium disaster, it was perfectly capable of taking all imaginable readings from his body save for actual tissue samples. He slipped onto a table and laid down, keeping as still as possible. 

J.A.R.V.I.S., without being told what to do, started the scanning sequence and Tony closed his eyes against the lights, slowly counting to twenty. _“First scan has completed, sir. Do you want a more focused look at something?”_

“Let me see,” Tony said, standing up and walking outside the scanner to check out the screens with readings of his vitals as well as imagery of his body. The arc reactor glowed bright, his eyes instinctively checking it for abnormalities, then looked at the rest. “Anything out of ordinary?” he asked. 

At any moment J.A.R.V.I.S. would ask him for further instruction, to understand what he was aiming for, but it never came: the AI zoomed in on his stomach area, clarifying the image, stripping away a few layers. 

No way. 

No _fucking_ way. 

_“Sir, it seems there are unknown organisms inside you, just outside the rectosigmoid junction. They don’t match any known growth of bacteria or other human condition. In fact, sir, I’m reading life signs for them. Eight, to be precise.”_

Tony stared at them for a while, counting each one for his own peace of mind, then switched to the complex readings on the screen that suggested that they were very much alive. He felt sick again, although not the same way as before. “Please tell me they’re going to burn themselves out in a hostile environment.” 

_“On the contrary, sir, they seem to be leeching off of you and are creating a sort of barrier outside themselves, perhaps to protect and aid further development.”_

Tony’s eyes narrowed. “I’m pregnant with eight alien eggs.” 

J.A.R.V.I.S. made no comment; the AI could read the rise in Tony’s pulse, the expression on his face, and the tension in his body. 

The days spent in a warm, comfortable haze were wrenched away painfully. He tried to look back at every touch, every caress, every time he had allowed Davy to place his alien parts inside him – especially the penis. He knew, subconsciously, that that was the trick. Had known at the time, too, probably, because why in hell would he have otherwise been pushing his ass up for more? 

He reached out, grabbing the first thing he could reach and threw it across the room. “Fuck!” he screamed, then took a heavy breath. “J.A.R.V.I.S., play security feed from before. What Thor said…” 

The AI wordlessly complied, pushing the medical data away and showing him the angry God of Thunder, intent on telling Tony that he had been tricked, his mind controlled, that it might be too late – 

His mind balked at that. Fear filled him, and a desire to return to his room with Davy was almost overwhelming. The alien would take care of him; his lover knew what to do. Tony was in good hands… 

A brief stab of pain snapped him out of it; he imagined those little eggs chewing on his insides, making a nest for themselves. He brought up the image again, enhancing it, staring at it, and he almost grabbed the blade nearest to him at that very moment. 

No way was this happening. 

Perhaps Davy hadn’t known. Maybe he would be just as shocked and scared. After all, Davy cared about him and wouldn’t intentionally impregnate Tony with some alien parasite. That was it, had to be it. They would deal with this and Thor would have to take back his accusations and be happy for them. 

Confident with his deduction, Tony turned and walked back to the elevator to join the others in the living room. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	7. Territorial

****

## 7: Territorial

 

Bruce couldn’t have been happier when Thor arrived and declared Tony’s alien companion a parasite. However, any satisfaction was soon overshadowed by fear as he read the meaning behind Thor’s warnings; had they stalled for too long? Could Tony actually be under the alien’s power, regardless of how much like himself he acted – regardless of all the changes in his behavior? And what of the comment about _laying eggs_? 

Once Tony rushed out of the room, a look of sickness on his face, they were left in a tense silence. Thor kept huffing angry breaths but didn’t physically assault the alien. While J.A.R.V.I.S. was only an AI, he had considerable power within the premises and Bruce didn’t want to go against his safety protocols unless he was confident the AI had gone rogue. For now, J.A.R.V.I.S. was simply following Tony’s orders and if they got through to Tony, there was no reason for excessive violence. 

“What have you done to him, vermin?” Thor finally demanded, stopping his restless pacing and facing the alien once more. “He is our shield-brother and we will protect him.” 

The alien cocked its head, gazing at the Asgardian with a look that didn’t imply fear. “He is my mate.” 

“Your mate?” Steve asked, confused. 

Davy looked at their leader. “Yes. Nothing will come between us – not even you.” 

“We’ll see about that,” Bruce muttered. Natasha threw him a cautious look but Bruce didn’t bother to hide the unease on his face. He had been bottling his feelings regarding this situation since Tony returned home and one more thing was going to make him explode and hand control over to the other guy; then they would see how well those tentacles fared against the green menace inside him. 

“You cannot change what is natural,” Davy went on. “I am his mate; he would sooner leave all of you than let me go.” 

“ _Mate_?” Tony’s voice interrupted as he stepped back into the room. None of the inner calm was on his face, the radiant satisfaction he had carried around in the presence of the alien long gone; something was wrong. 

“Yes,” Davy purred, reaching for Tony, and regardless of the sudden change in the man’s behavior, Tony welcomed it, caressing the tentacle-infested face in return. 

“There’s something we need to talk about,” Tony went on then, voice clipped as if he were struggling to stay on topic. “Would you happen to know how eight teensy-weensy eggs managed to find their way inside my stomach? Because I sure as hell have no recollection of putting them there.” 

Bruce’s eyes widened at the revelation and it took some extra effort to not let the other guy level the place – with the tentacle alien in it. 

Davy purred again. “Of course, my love; our babies have thrived inside you for days now, growing stronger with each hour.” 

Tony physically pulled back, and it didn’t require much effort either. Rage twisted his face so sharply that Bruce had to admire his cool when he didn’t just shout his next words: “You knew?” 

Several tentacles tried approaching Tony – or his stomach, to be exact – but were slapped away sharply. “Your smell changed five nights ago. I knew then I had managed to plant my seed inside you and that it had taken hold.” 

Tony blinked, slowly, deliberately. He let out a breath of air, jaw flexing. “In that case let me set something straight, right now: the first thing I’m going to do once this discussion is over is to flush out your _seed_ because there won’t be any alien babies growing in _this_ stomach,” he said, pointing at himself in case some part of his statement left room for questions. 

Bruce smiled, crossing his arms over his chest. It was like seeing Tony for the first time in a few weeks, full of life and _himself_. 

However, the alien wasn’t so easily defeated. “But they are _our_ babies, my love.” 

“And I’m not a goddamn woman you can rent a womb from,” Tony snapped back. “This is non-negotiable. You might have tried clearing this up with me before this whole thing started.” 

Davy reached up, tentacles caressing Tony’s face in a manner that was probably supposed to be soothing. “You are upset,” he crooned. 

“You’re damn right I am,” Tony grumbled. 

“There is no need for it,” the alien went on, and suddenly the air smelled different, as if something were being puffed out from the creature, and Thor let out a cry of alarm, summoning Mjolnir and taking a step forward. Bruce wasn’t certain what he knew that the rest of them didn’t, but the other guy certainly didn’t like the way things smelled – literally – and Bruce braced himself for what was going to follow. 

Nothing, however, could have prepared him for what took place next. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	8. Alarm

****

## 8: Alarm

 

Tony was angry. How could Davy have gone behind his back like that? He had thought they cared for each other and this kind of betrayal… Perhaps the alien just didn’t understand human physiology – which Tony would be happy to explain to him once this was over – but as seriously as he may have sometimes considered having children, some day in the future, this wasn’t the way it was going to happen. Not in a million years. 

The tentacles were soft and loving on his skin, soothing him. Tony allowed it although it wouldn’t sway his decision; the eggs were going to leave his system before this day ended, and Davy could either support him or disagree as much as he liked – it made no difference. 

“You are upset,” Davy recognized. 

“You’re damn right I am,” Tony didn’t hide it because he was. That his condition had gone unnoticed until now was intolerable. 

“There is no need for that,” the other went on then – the one Tony might have agreed to call ‘mate’, in time, without this fiasco. 

He frowned, unwilling to accept the soothing words that were no doubt meant to soften his resolve. Tony breathed in, willing himself to pull back and return to the lab to find a way to get rid of the alien infestation inside him, but as his nostrils flared, another thought entered him. His body froze in indecision, his mind wanting one thing and his instincts another. 

“They are our babies, Tony,” Davy spoke softly. “Yours and mine, growing within the shelter of your body. We are mated – connected – and we must protect our offspring at all costs.” 

It made… perfect sense. Tony could almost feel their presence inside him and his protective instincts were thrown into overdrive. The mere idea of anyone trying to harm _his_ babies… 

“You will not do this, vermin,” Thor declared angrily from the side and Tony looked at him, seeing Mjolnir raised in an obvious threat. “Set his mind free,” Thor demanded. 

“What is he doing?” Steve asked hastily, also poised to attack. All of them were. 

“We must protect each other,” Davy said softly, a tremble in his voice. 

_Yes_ , Tony thought. Davy was his mate, the sire of his unborn babies, and nothing was going to harm his family. “J.A.R.V.I.S., prepare the armor.” 

_“Sir…”_

“Do it!” Tony snapped. 

“Tony,” Steve looked at him in alarm, “what are you doing?” 

“Protecting what’s mine,” Tony retorted. 

“Just five seconds ago you wanted to flush those alien eggs out of you!” Clint shouted. 

Tony growled at him and looked to the side where a section of the wall opened and the Mark X had begun its start-up sequence. 

“My friend,” Thor pleaded, “do not force us to hurt you.” 

“I’m not the one who’s getting hurt,” Tony promised. “All you need to do is leave us alone and none of this has to get ugly.” 

“Tony,” Bruce stepped forward, although he threw an uncertain look at the Iron Man armor. “You’re not thinking clearly.” 

Tony snarled at him and put a hand on his stomach. The faint swell was comforting, reminding him of what was at stake. Davy had moved slightly behind him, more easily protected that way, and Tony’s eyes narrowed. “What’s it gonna be, guys?” he asked. The Mark X shifted slightly, activated by J.A.R.V.I.S. to defend him if the need arose. 

The Avengers looked at Steve for confirmation and Tony met the eyes of the man he had called a leader longer than a friend. Right now, if Steve crossed the line, he was a dead man to Tony. Nothing but his unborn babies and his mate mattered, and if the Avengers became a threat to their wellbeing… Tony wouldn’t hesitate to act. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	9. Aggregation

****

## 9: Aggregation

 

Steve knew that whatever he said or did next would ignite the situation in a heartbeat. Most of the Avengers weren’t armed; he didn’t have his shield and while Clint and Natasha had weapons and Thor his hammer, he couldn’t risk this getting out of hand. If Bruce snapped and let the Hulk out – and if the Hulk for whatever reason didn’t recognize Tony or ended up hurting him… 

“There’s no need for anyone to get hurt,” Steve said, spreading his hands. “We won’t fight you, of course not.” 

“You will leave?” Tony asked. 

“This is our home –” Steve argued although that wasn’t what mattered right now. They could stay at dozens of places but what he wanted was to stay close to Tony and sort this out. The change had happened way too fast, there was no way it was natural. Whatever the alien had done to Tony’s mind, to make him go back on what he had previously vowed to do… He didn’t dare to imagine the lengths the alien could force their friend. 

“I want you gone, all of you,” Tony declared. The Iron Man armor took a step, raising one arm. No weapons were exposed yet although the repulsor glowed slightly brighter. 

Steve raised his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay! We’re leaving.” He motioned at the others. “Right now, out. All of you.” 

Bruce looked like he might disagree but after a brief wordless battle against Steve’s determined look, he joined the others at the main elevator. Tony watched them go and there was no mistaking the look of satisfaction on the alien’s face as the doors closed between them. 

“What are we going to do now?” Clint asked when they were in the garage. 

“We need help,” Thor announced. 

“What we need is a plan,” Steve argued. Getting too many people involved would risk Tony’s health – more than it already was, clearly. 

“My brother can help,” Thor went on, startling them all. 

“Loki?” Clint exclaimed. “No way.” 

“He has dealt with these parasites before,” Thor argued. “He knows how to counter-act their magic; of this I’m sure.” 

“Magic?” Bruce frowned skeptically. 

“I do not know how they control those under their will, but I have seen it before,” Thor nodded solemnly. “Magic or something else…” 

Steve felt the others looking at him, prodding him to refuse Thor’s plan. “We need to resolve this quickly,” he mused. There was no telling what those eggs would do to Tony if they stayed in his body long enough. “What happened to the others that these parasites… impregnated?” he asked, cringing slightly at the word. 

“Of what I have heard and witnessed, most of them died,” Thor replied. “We must make haste; if our friend can already feel the presence of the foul seed in his body, there is no time to waste.” 

Steve nodded stiffly, closing his eyes. “You think Loki could help us?” 

“As I spoke before, I am certain of it.” 

“Then we’ll do that.” 

“You can’t be serious,” Clint argued. “Look at all the times we’ve encountered him. Every time he’s tried to kill us; who’s to say he won’t use this opportunity to eliminate Tony instead of helping him?” 

Steve looked at Thor, expecting the Asgardian to jump to his brother’s defense. 

“Loki knows what danger these parasites pose to all living creatures in the existing worlds,” Thor said instead. “He will help us to get rid of this one.” 

Clint grunted unhappily but Steve’s mind was set and they took his bike and two cars out of the garage, heading out to find a place where they could get a hold of Thor’s brother. 

* * *

Loki had been rotting away in another one of Allfather’s creative prisons after his latest attempt to take back what was rightfully his. Thor and his Midgardian allies, once again, had thwarted his attempts – yet it somehow didn’t surprise him that it was because of them he was being set free and sent to Midgard to aid his brother in his most recent plight. 

Thor had never quite accepted Loki’s hatred of him, and remained ever hopeful that one day Loki would turn back to the docile little child to whom everyone had lied about who he was and what he would become. 

The Bifrost took him to New York City’s Central Park – a bittersweet location since this was the very spot from which Thor and he had departed for home, several years ago, after his first attempt to take over the Middle Realm. 

The Avengers were there, save for one. “I see you are a man short,” Loki noted. 

Captain America glanced at Thor and gave a minimal nod. Thor stepped forward, a grave look upon his face, and that alarmed Loki somewhat. “Brother, we require your help.” 

“My help?” Loki repeated, looking at the four other defenders of Earth. 

“You recall those parasites we have encountered before, traveling the known world and attempting to breed with whichever new species they come across,” Thor begun. 

Loki shivered with repulsion. “The ones with tentacles? How could I forget? Disgusting creatures of lesser intelligence, only existing to share their genes and reproduce.” 

“It seemed pretty intelligent to me,” Hawkeye argued. “Got rid of all of us by playing its cards right.” 

Loki was beginning to think he saw where this was going. “Let me guess – Iron Man has finally met his match?” 

It didn’t go unnoticed how unhappy Bruce Banner looked – or how tense the Captain’s jaw was. 

“Iron Man is in grave danger,” Thor pushed on, dismissing the jibe. “One of the creatures has him under its influence and he cannot be reasoned with.” 

Loki pursed his lips. “And you want me to do what?” 

“To help,” Black Widow snapped as if it were obvious. “Can you do that?” 

Loki scoffed. “You clearly lack the basic knowledge of this species – otherwise you wouldn’t require my presence. However, for a price I may be persuaded to –” 

Banner had him by the throat before he could finish, lifting him up. His eyes were bleeding green, his grip shaky as if he were trying not to squeeze any harder. “You will help us or I will rip off your head right here,” he threatened. 

“Well, when you put it like that,” Loki managed through the grip and was slowly let down. Banner looked him in the eye then shoved him back and returned to his place in the ring formed around him. 

Captain America gave him a quick look then glanced at Loki again, not at all concerned by what had happened. “What do we need to understand about this alien species, in order to save our friend?” 

“It is not a species, per se,” Loki started. “We do not know where they originally come from – or what they were originally like. Your visitor is no doubt a product of several cross-species, inheriting traits from many sources. What they seem to be driven to do, however, is to find the perfect combination – which would, eventually, conquer the world. A master-race. I do not believe they’ll ever manage that, seeing as they’ve already crossed between too many races to actually hold onto the best traits of any of them, but that is their biological imperative and that’s what your tentacle-covered friend is trying to do. It probably studied Earth for a time before coming down to find a suitable breeding ground. Tell me, is Stark already heavy with its eggs?” he asked, unable to keep from smiling. 

“Yes,” Captain America snapped, voice devoid of patience or humor. “We need to… He was going to get rid of them before the alien changed his mind.” 

“Ah,” Loki nodded. “Pheromones; they are so very effective once they take hold.” 

“Pheromones?” Banner repeated, his mind already working. “That’s how he does it…” 

“Have you tried to counter-act their effect yet?” Loki asked, although he already knew the answer. 

“We didn’t know how the parasite was affecting our friend,” Thor admitted. 

“Predictable,” Loki rolled his eyes. “Your memory has ever been selective. Now, depending on how long Stark has been under the influence, it may require some finesse to overcome the pheromones currently controlling his body, and thus affecting his mind on a primal level. I have never seen what they do to humans, but I would wager it won’t be long before he’s crawling on all fours…” 

“I’m glad you’re entertained by this,” Hawkeye growled. “I’ll be sure to be there when you try to get to Stark and get a face full of Iron Man’s Unibeam.” 

Loki pursed his lips. Yes, there was that… “We must clear the pheromones in his system. Not a simple feat, seeing as they’ve already bonded with his biology. However, I think it will be easier to take the simple route to success.” 

“Which is?” the Captain asked impatiently. 

“Create a pheromone that is stronger and will… how shall I put it… lure him to us instead. At this point re-directing his instincts will be easier than purging his mind of their effect.” 

“We need a lab,” Banner noted. 

“And suitable pheromone sources, preferably human,” Loki added. He looked at the five Avengers and smiled. “I think this will work nicely.” He took special pleasure in the way the Avengers exchanged an uncertain look amongst themselves. 

* * *

“You are certain this will work?” Steve asked. 

“In theory, it should,” Bruce nodded. 

They were headed back to the Avengers Tower in a Quinjet after spending the better part of a day in the best S.H.I.E.L.D. lab NYC had to offer. They had hurried the process along and Steve hoped they wouldn’t blow this; they might not get another chance. 

Human pheromones were far more subtle than most of those found in the animal kingdom, even Steve knew that. Far weaker than the kind the alien had been using on Tony. With a little mixing, Bruce thought he and the other scientists had what it would take to temporarily veer Tony away from the alien, so that he would lower his guard and let them help him. 

It had been a long debate as to whose samples were the best to use as a basis for the pheromone; Thor’s may have been too alien although more potent, Steve’s might work in unexpected ways, the gamma radiation may affect the result from Bruce’s and Clint and Natasha’s were too weak on their own, according to Loki. Whether he had been right would remain to be seen, after all their samples had been mixed together in something that would hopefully work. 

Steve could admit he didn’t even try to understand the process but he hoped it would give them an opening nonetheless. He didn’t want to try and knock Tony out just to deal with J.A.R.V.I.S. trying to protect his creator. 

As Clint landed the Quinjet on the helipad outside the main floor, the entire Tower seemed eerily quiet. Steve knew there was no way he could know that, but he had a feeling Tony would have barricaded himself and his alien lover into the building with considerable effort after managing to get rid of the Avengers. 

“I called Pepper,” Bruce noted as the engines shut down. “I told her to stay away until we gave the all clear, just in case. She said the building’s on lock-down, which means J.A.R.V.I.S. is in control of the area.” 

“Great,” Clint muttered as he got out, his bow out and fingers ready as he studied the wide windows. They were opaque, not giving them a glimpse of what lay inside. Steve shifted his shield and knew they would have to break their way in. Once again he made sure he had the spray at the ready and out of harm’s way, then nodded at Thor who descended from the Quinjet with Loki. 

“He doesn’t have to be here,” Bruce muttered. 

“I know, but would you rather leave him in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and hope he doesn’t escape?” Steve asked, giving the God of Mischief a warning look. 

“Thor better keep him in line,” Bruce growled. “The other guy isn’t in a good mood; he knows something’s off.” 

“Just make sure he won’t take it out on Tony,” Steve said then set out towards the door. The glass was reinforced, in the aftermath of several attacks on the Tower, but his shield would smash through with ease; Tony hadn’t yet found a substance hard enough to repel vibranium. 

Before Steve could make it to the wide glass wall, however, a blast hit the concrete before his feet and Iron Man flew into view, weapons at the ready. “I told you to stay away,” Tony warned them through the speakers. 

“He’s in the suit,” Clint noted needlessly; this had been something they had all hoped to avoid. 

“Take him down,” Steve ordered. He didn’t need to add ‘carefully’ or ‘gently’, knowing his team knew what he meant. 

That gave Tony all the encouragement he needed to open fire on them. Steve threw up his shield and wondered if Bruce was already changing or looking for cover. There was no inhuman growl or sounds of pain, however, so he guessed it was the latter. 

Clint fired then dodged out of the way of a repulsor blast. Natasha was looking for a vantage point, pulling Loki behind the Quinjet with her. Thor, on the other hand, readily met Tony in battle, rising into the air and slamming Mjolnir at the armored chest. Iron Man flew backwards, into the wall above the windows, then shot back, igniting the air around Thor. 

Steve took that moment to dash forward and send his shield flying. It smashed into the glass doors and sent them crashing to the floor in shards, opening for them a way in. He looked back, to motion the others to follow, then felt heat a fraction of a second before a repulsor blast hit him and threw him into the air. 

Gravity gripped him and he felt the wind for an instant before he felt something loop around his ankle and found himself hanging face down over the long fall to the ground. He looked up, seeing Clint holding his weight with some trouble. As smoothly as he could, Steve lifted his body upwards, muscles straining, and grasped the lightweight cable, starting to climb back up. 

By the time he reached the ledge again, Bruce and Natasha had joined Clint in holding his weight. Above them, Thor and Iron Man were going at each other, yet Steve could tell Thor was holding back because he hadn’t summoned the lightning yet. They all knew Tony’s suit could take it, but it was always a risk. 

“Let’s get inside,” Natasha said. “Thor will meet us there.” 

Steve nodded, not questioning the new plan of action. He took the lead, picking up his shield on the way, the others following him. The space was eerily quiet – too quiet. “J.A.R.V.I.S.?” Steve called out. He suddenly wondered what kind of defenses Tony had installed inside the building – or how many operational suits he had here that the AI could remotely control. 

_“Captain Rogers,”_ J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. 

“I need you to help us,” Steve pleaded, although he knew his orders would never override Tony’s. 

_“Mr. Stark has instructed me to engage in full lock-down. No one is allowed to enter without his express command.”_

“He’s not well,” Bruce interrupted. “You must know that. You helped him discover his… condition.” 

There was a pause. _“Mr. Stark’s wellbeing is my first priority,”_ the AI cited. 

“Just… don’t do anything,” Steve tried to bargain. “You don’t have to help us, but don’t help Tony hurt himself. Please.” 

_“We will cross that bridge when we come to it, Captain,”_ J.A.R.V.I.S. replied and Steve wondered what that meant. Perhaps J.A.R.V.I.S. was still processing their request, trying to calculate all the variables. 

Before they could say anything else, though, Iron Man came crashing through the windows, rolling across the floor. Thor flew in after him, burn marks on his armor but appearing otherwise unharmed. This was their chance, Steve knew it, and he dashed forward, yet didn’t know if he could actually hold Tony down while he was wearing the suit. 

Thor moved forward just as he did, raising Mjolnir. 

“Thor, no!” Steve cried out, fearing Thor may have lost their objective in the heat of the battle, which sometimes happened; Tony was in there, confused, and if they hurt him it would hang over them for the rest of their lives. 

However, instead of striking down, Thor simply lowered the hammer on top of Tony’s chest – then let go. 

With a hard thump, Tony’s upper body crashed into the floor where he had been trying to get up and back into the fight. He struggled for a moment, like a tortoise on its back, trying to dislodge the hammer but failing at it. “What, you’re too afraid to fight fair with me?” Tony snarled at Thor. “Pick it up and we’ll go again, Thunderclap!” 

“No,” Thor said and stepped forward. 

“Fine,” Tony grunted and lifted his arm, clearly prepared to take a shot at Thor anyway. “J.A.R.V.I.S., you know what to do.” 

_“Sir, your body is reacting to the stress. I do not advise continuing this battle.”_

Tony had never been particularly good at heading warnings. He fired, although Thor managed to dodge it at the last moment. A piece of the wall exploded next to the already broken windows. Tony renewed his struggles, trying to shift Mjolnir or wriggle out from beneath it, then suddenly froze. His body jerked, the movement partially hidden by the armor but it was clear J.A.R.V.I.S.’s earlier concern was becoming imminent. 

“Get the helmet off him,” Loki ordered from the side, joining them indoors. Steve looked at him as he approached, having expected him to bail as soon as their attention was on Tony. 

The suit hissed and the mechanism holding the helmet together released, allowing Natasha to tug it off. 

Tony’s eyes were closed tight, his body jerking. A faint trail of blood was coming from his nose, either a result from the battle or whatever was going on. 

“Seizure,” Bruce noted. “Quickly, spray him and we’ll get him out of the armor.” 

Steve reached for the spray, for a second fearing he might have dropped it as he almost fell to his death earlier, but it was still at his belt and he tugged it free, opening the safety lid and giving it to Bruce. The scientist moved closer to Tony’s face, who promptly opened his eyes as if alerted by the proximity. One armored hand came up, trying to fight, but Bruce placed one knee on top of it, leaning his weight on the limb before he released the spray on Tony’s face. 

Arching his face away, Tony sputtered and sniffed, drawing in harsh breaths then sneezed harshly. “What the fuck?” he started, then blinked, eyes watery and confused. “What…?” 

“Take the suit off,” Bruce said quickly, already looking for the hidden latches that helped with the manual removal of the armor; Tony had shared those details with select members of the Avengers, usually in tight conditions, and Steve moved to help him, piece by piece freeing Tony from the armor. 

Their teammate looked dazed and confused, his body still tense from obvious pain. He sniffed at the air – at Steve’s neck, he noticed, as he dragged Tony away from the disassembled armor. “You smell nice,” Tony murmured, almost dreamily. 

“I think it’s working,” Bruce smiled. 

Tony turned his eyes at him and beamed. “Hey, Doctor.” 

“Hey yourself,” Bruce replied, quickly grasping Tony’s hand before letting go. “Okay, we need to find the alien before it manages to get away.” 

“I’ve got this,” Natasha said, moving forward, allowing Steve to move up. Tony looked at her, inhaled, conflict on his features but something else seemed to be taking over. She pushed her gloved fingers into his hair and he closed his eyes, body jerking slightly as another wave of pain must have passed through him. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Clint asked. 

“His physiology isn’t meant to handle whatever it’s going through,” Bruce started. 

“Many of the beings these parasites bred with didn’t make it through the forced pregnancy,” Loki agreed. 

“Because they were males?” Steve guessed. 

“Not necessarily,” Loki shook his head. “Some of them simply lacked the strength to take the stress on their bodies. I think I don’t need to tell you Stark needs medical attention at your earliest convenience?” 

“We got that,” Natasha bit back a more creative reply. “We’ll take care of you,” she said to Tony then, who smiled briefly then frowned, as if uncertain whether that was the right response. 

“Okay, where’s that tentacle head?” Clint asked, arrow notched and ready to fire. “Hiding beneath the bed? So much for mates protecting each other.” 

“Search the area. We must find it,” Steve ordered. 

“I’ll go search for a sedative – it might ease the seizures,” Bruce said, looking at Tony with some concern. 

“He was doing fine in battle,” Thor mused. 

“The sudden stress might have worsened his condition at a rapid pace. It doesn’t matter; we need to get him to a hospital,” Bruce noted then froze, sniffing – just as Tony did. He turned to look towards the other end of the room, the others following his gaze. The alien stood there, looking rather pissed, tentacles jerking and clawed fingers moving like talons eager to grab onto its next prey. 

“He is mine,” it hissed. 

“Come and get him,” Clint replied and shot. 

It was rare that he missed, but the alien dodged, lightning fast, moving down and across the floor. Steve moved to intercept it, determined that its slippery touch wouldn’t reach Tony ever again. He would cut off every single tentacle if that’s what it took. The shield hit the alien hard but the tentacles crawled over the edges and Steve had to roll to the side to keep his balance. He hadn’t thought the alien was this strong, having cowered behind Tony’s back during earlier conflicts. Apparently that was the impression it had wanted to make. 

“No!” Tony shouted suddenly, breaking Steve’s concentration. He was struggling in Natasha’s hold, eyes wide and panicked. Clearly their version of the pheromones hadn’t quite shaken the hold the alien had on him. As long as he couldn’t get in the way of what needed to be done, though, his cries were the price they had to pay for acting too slowly. 

Clint shot at the alien again, catching one of the tentacles this time, making the creature hiss and pull the arrow free, snapping the shaft in two. It moved fast, then, making Clint swear and put away his bow; the target was too close, it was a wasted effort to try and get a shot. He took out a knife instead, planning on going at it the easy way. 

“Get Tony out of here!” Steve ordered and the alien let out an angry howl. The air tasted strange for a moment and Tony doubled his efforts to get free, seizures forgotten; he elbowed Natasha hard in the face, making her fall backwards. Thor moved to subdue him before anything worse could happen, hauling Tony bodily up and away. 

“Let me go!” Tony shoved at the Asgardian. “You can’t hurt him! I can’t… I can’t be without him.” 

“Trust me, you can,” Natasha replied, wiping blood from a wound on her brow. 

The alien dashed forward, after Tony, and Steve sprang after it, both of them falling to the ground. He drew his arm back for a punch then felt razor-sharp teeth sink into his neck. He brought his shield up instead, at an awkward angle, dislodging the alien’s hold. He could feel the blood pouring out along his skin and rolled to his stomach, trying to get up. “Cap!” Clint shouted, “I’ve got this. Just… don’t bleed to death or anything.” 

It was perhaps supposed to be funny but the entire side of Steve’s face and neck were on fire. Trust that alien creature to have some kind of venom in its teeth. The serum was already battling it, he could feel it, but he wasn’t getting to his feet anytime soon. 

Steve looked up just in time to see Clint lunge at their slippery opponent, sliding his knife deep into its side, almost cutting one larger tentacle loose. The alien screeched and reached back with another two tentacles, grasping Clint by the throat and slamming him hard into the floor. 

With the knife still embedded in its side, the alien moved forward. Tony was still struggling, keeping Thor busy. Steve knew it had more to do with an attempt to not hurt Tony rather than lacking strength or a firm hold. 

Natasha turned to face the alien, a blue spark flashing over the Widow’s Bite bracelets. “Come and get him, you slick scum,” she taunted, crouching low. 

“Please don’t hurt him,” Tony pleaded, his voice so broken, so honest, as if they were trying to take someone he truly loved from him. If Steve didn’t know better – he hoped they were right – he would have regretted all of this. 

Before the alien could reach Natasha and try to get past her, the floor suddenly bulged and then broke apart as the Hulk smashed through it, sending Natasha and the alien flying in opposite directions. Chest heaving and breaths hard, the Hulk followed the alien, then without a word or even a snarl he seized it by its head, lifted it up and smashed it down, then stepped on the wriggling, struggling body. A squishy sound followed, swiftly echoed by a crunch. 

“No!” Tony howled then began to sob uncontrollably. Thor turned his body away, shielding him from the vision of the Hulk viciously stomping on the now-dead alien, reducing it to little more than a stain on the floor. 

“Well,” Loki commented from the side where he had retreated when the fight began, “that solves one problem.” 

Steve grimaced, struggling up to his knees. His head was swimming and his body unstable, but he knew he could get to his feet if he really tried. The burn had already disappeared and as he pressed his fingers to where the wound had been, it felt like whole skin again. 

Clint was picking himself up as well, coughing slightly and holding his throat. It looked like he might have severe bruising there soon, as if someone had tried to hang him. “I think it’s dead, big guy,” he called out to the Hulk. 

The Hulk huffed angrily then stepped back, peering at the broken, destroyed body. “Smelly squid,” he commented then turned towards the direction of Thor and Tony’s somewhat weaker gasps of despair. “Shellhead smells wrong,” the Hulk pointed out then. 

“We’ll fix that,” Steve promised him and the Hulk gave him a firm nod before he began to shrink and change color, letting Bruce emerge now that the danger had passed. 

“I’ll tell S.H.I.E.L.D.’s medical to get here,” Natasha said and raised a comm device to her ear, looking worriedly at their distraught friend who clearly wasn’t anywhere near being himself. 

 

 

_to be continued…_


	10. Appeasing

****

## 10: Appeasing

 

Bruce didn’t have time to sit down and get over the disorientation of the transformation. 

He had been a few floors down, in search of sedatives, when J.A.R.V.I.S. had informed him a battle had broken out upstairs and that the Hulk might be needed in taking out the alien foe. How that was even possible between Steve and Thor being up there to manage things, Bruce didn’t know, but the sudden rush of concern for Tony had been enough to make the other guy force his way through. 

Clearly that hadn’t been a wasted effort, judging from the smear on the floor that threatened to upset his stomach. 

Thor was sitting on the floor, holding Tony’s body firmly to his, speaking in soothing tones. Clint looked like someone had tried to strangle him and Natasha was checking on him. Steve had drying blood smeared all over his neck and shoulder, suggesting another injury. 

Bruce dismissed all that, knowing it was under control. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s medical unit was on the way, to manage the problem from here on out, but until then he had to do something about Tony’s hitching breaths or he would surely Hulk out again. 

Moving forward, he settled down before Thor and the curled up form of his friend and fellow scientist. He reached out, slowly taking a hold of Tony’s wrist, then the other, turning him towards him. Tears stained Tony’s face and the look of horror was not something that belonged on his features. He tried to jerk away, to fight, but Bruce maintained the hold until Tony looked him in the eye and stopped struggling. Some clarity reached the wide, dark eyes – or then the pheromones they had dosed him with began working again, now that the alien was gone and couldn’t replenish his. 

“You’re going to be fine,” Bruce reassured Tony. Thor’s hands rested on Tony’s body, rubbing circles on his back, and the touches seemed to have an effect, finally. 

“I’m scared,” Tony admitted. “I don’t know… what to do. What to feel. What to think. It’s all so…” 

“Messed up?” Bruce suggested. 

Tony just nodded then looked up as Steve approached them hesitantly. It looked like Tony was going to break into sobs again and Steve swiftly knelt beside them, taking one of his gloves off and touching Tony’s cheek, pushing at the visible traces of tears. “Does it hurt anywhere?” he asked. 

“Besides my heart?” Tony asked and let out a nervous laugh, then closed his eyes briefly and inhaled deeply. “I can… God, you all smell so _good_.” 

Bruce cringed, knowing that was unlikely, at least in his case. He didn’t even want to know where the stickiness on the sole of his left foot had come from. However, it was a sign that their pheromone concoction was working and it was slowly calming Tony down. 

“They’re almost here,” Natasha called out and helped Clint up, joining the strange circle. “They’ll… fix you up,” she said and briefly caressed Tony’s hair. He looked at her, following the motion of her hand. Tony was still nervous of Natasha, sometimes, after all these years; perhaps this was how their relationship would have been had she not jabbed him in the neck with a needle, Bruce mused. 

Yeah, he had heard about that incident, repeatedly. Tony liked to tell it, even if it showed weakness on his part. It was his reminder of the fact that Natasha – or S.H.I.E.L.D. – shouldn’t be trusted even on a good day. Even if he worked with them. 

“Please promise us this is the last time you put us through something as disgusting as this,” Clint noted, voice hoarse. 

Tony’s expression flinched, just a bit, and Bruce actually elbowed Clint in the side, making the archer fall back from his crouch. Tony smiled, feeling the motion since Bruce was still holding his hands. 

The elevator let out a sound; clearly J.A.R.V.I.S. had released the lock down – or S.H.I.E.L.D. had hacked the AI again, which would send Tony into another spiral of upgrades and revenge-hacking of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files. Either way, a medical team approached, with a gurney and all, giving the destroyed room a brief look before approaching. “Mr. Stark,” one of them called out, stepping closer. 

Tony jerked and leaned away from the man. “I don’t want to go with them,” he said quickly, trying to find one of their eyes to back him up. 

“We’ll come with you,” Steve promised. “You’ll be fine.” 

Tony swallowed, eyes so wide it was almost comical – but there was nothing funny about the situation. He was entirely too pale and the seizures may have stopped, but the reason for them was still there, inside him. “Are you sure?” Tony finally asked, looking at Steve. 

“Yes,” Steve nodded and climbed to his feet with some difficulty. “I’ll be with you the entire way to the hospital. Bruce, too,” he added, seeing as Bruce still held Tony’s hands. 

Tony nodded rigidly and started to get up. Thor and Bruce helped him along. They didn’t make him lie down before they got to the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s version of an ambulance, knowing how Tony hated appearing weak in front of people. The others would follow in the Quinjet, meeting them at S.H.I.E.L.D.’s private hospital. 

Bruce leaned against the wall as the car drove away from the Tower, meeting Steve’s eyes. “We did okay,” he mused. 

Steve nodded then glanced at Tony who had closed his eyes and appeared to be asleep for the time being, breathing shallow and erratic as if he were incredibly uneasy even while resting. Bruce held the hand closest to him a bit more tightly and hoped they weren’t too late. 

* * *

When Tony stirred, the ceiling was moving and the lights were too bright. He panicked, jerking up, trying to sit, but a hand pressed him back down, adamant on his chest. He looked at it then relaxed a bit, recognizing the red glove and the blue that followed it. “Cap,” he murmured. 

“I’m here,” Steve’s voice replied. “We’re all here.” 

Tony settled down and they turned the gurney after a bit, passing a doorway, then stopped. He looked around, finding himself in a room, in a hospital. He didn’t like hospitals and wasn’t going to start now. “I want to go home,” he protested. “I’m fine.” 

“You have alien eggs inside you,” Bruce’s voice reminded him. 

“How could I forget?” Tony mused, wondering about it. In the middle of… everything… it wasn’t that surprising, but the cramps were coming back and he was tired of them, of the pain in his abdomen and the throwing up. And the seizures; those had been awful, especially when trapped inside the suit. 

He forced himself to look around the room, finding the other Avengers there. Tony counted them carefully, sniffing and finding each smell as well, which he wasn’t going to let freak him out right now. “Where’s Loki?” he asked. He was sure he had seen him at the Tower. 

“In S.H.I.E.L.D. custody,” Steve reassured him. “Hopefully he’ll still be there when we’re done here.” 

Loki was good at convenient disappearing acts – convenient for him, anyway. 

A woman walked in, pace crisp, face grim. “We’ve received preliminary test results as well as the data you collected,” she said. Tony guessed she was referring to whatever tests he had run with J.A.R.V.I.S. before his priorities were… changed. It was weird; he could recall both methods of thinking even if they contradicted each other completely. “We need to operate on him immediately,” she went on. “Mr. Stark, do you understand what I’m saying?” 

“You want to cut me open. No thanks, I’ll pass,” Tony replied sharply and looked at Steve. “I want to go home.” 

“We need to get those things out of you before they kill you,” Steve told him, in his Cap-voice, which meant it was going to happen unless Tony found a way to weasel out of it. He didn’t think he would, in his current condition, and he wanted to do as Steve said, too, which was a new thing. Maybe it had to do with how nice he smelled… Yeah, it was definitely that. 

Once he got out of this mess, Tony was going to disable the sensory cells in his nasal cavity and never smell anything ever again. 

“Tony,” Bruce called his attention back to the moment, waiting until Tony turned his head to meet his eyes. “You do understand why this has to be done, right? You’re not… still wanting to protect them?” 

There was a tense silence while Tony forced himself to think of both alternatives. However, with Davy dead… 

He closed his eyes. His head was painfully clear while at the same time feeling just as muddled. The fear was crawling back, though, and he knew there wasn’t an actual argument here. “No,” he answered and opened his eyes, looking at the doctor. “Do it.” 

She nodded. “We’ll start preparing you for anesthesia momentarily.” 

Tony cringed. “How do you think they’re going to…” 

“Ouch,” Clint commented from the foot of the bed. “Do you think they’ll just pull them out?” 

Natasha was the one to elbow him this time, although not as hard as Bruce had. “They’ll take whichever route is the safest and least damaging. That’s all you need to think about.” She looked at Tony then. “We’ll be outside –” 

“Wait!” Tony jerked up, far as he was allowed before Steve and Bruce forced him back down. “Could you…” He bit his tongue, hard, to keep from saying the rest. He wasn’t being himself, he wasn’t thinking clearly, and he sure as hell wouldn’t ask them to do what he had just almost spilled. 

“Could we what?” Natasha pressed. 

Tony tried not to look at any of them, which was hard. 

“Speak your mind,” Thor encouraged – which was kind of funny because Tony wasn’t sure it was _his_ mind that was at work here. He laughed, then gasped as it triggered another wave of pain. 

“Could you stay?” he finally blurted out. “I don’t… I don’t know what they’ll do, and I don’t like that.” 

There were looks exchanged, seeking confirmation to see whether they all understood his request the same way. 

“We’ll ask the surgeons whether we can do that,” Steve finally offered. “One of us will be with you, though, I promise you that.” 

Tony nodded, too embarrassed to say anything else. 

When a nurse came in to put him under, Tony saw the others gather at one side of the room, as if standing guard. His nostrils flared, smelling the air as a needle pushed into his skin and he felt calmer immediately, knowing they were there as he slowly drifted off, too tired to actually stay awake. 

* * *

When Captain America said he wasn’t going to leave his teammate’s side, there was no room for arguments – from anyone. 

Thor had to stay on the far side of the operating room, without Mjolnir, because the electric current he exuded had the tendency to mess up electronic devices and no one wanted that to happen during an operation. 

The rest of them were a bit closer but not close enough to get in the way of things. Well, Bruce was seated by Tony’s head where he lay prostate on the table, announcing readings every minute or so for the medical team to acknowledge. 

Clint and Natasha watched sharply – too sharply, given the direction of the operation – but it was like a car crash and Tony had asked them to stay with him. Clint wondered if the pheromones worked two ways since they had all bowed to his wish so easily. 

Steve was on the other side of the room, attention rapt and unflinching. 

When they managed to get to the eggs, everyone held their breath. As the first was extracted, Clint tried to see what it looked like, but the bloody mess on the tray didn’t look like much. Maybe they had accidentally removed something else. However, more of those things kept coming out until all eight were extracted and they started the patch-up work. Tony stayed out cold the entire time and the eggs were sealed in containment as if the medical crew feared they might grow legs – or tentacles – and crawl away. 

Clint wished he had brought his arrows and bow, just in case they did just that. 

“He’s stable,” the head surgeon noted after they were done. “The injury to internal organs seemed minimal although we’ll see the full effects when he begins to recover.” 

Steve nodded, accepting the prognosis and pushed away from the wall. He and Bruce helped to turn Tony to his side and he was wheeled out to a recovery room. 

“Let’s get the rest of you checked up,” Bruce noted, giving Steve and Clint a particularly hard look. “Thor, do you need medical attention?” 

“I am well,” Thor replied. 

“Okay. Thor, Natasha and I stay with Tony while the two of you get checked out.” 

Clint mock saluted him then followed Steve in the direction of where they might find available staff to take a look at them now that the biggest show was over. 

* * *

Tony was back home in two days. If he hadn’t been so doped up, he would have left after day one, but the drugs they had given him to ward off any infections and complications had been really good and the others had hung around dutifully, entertaining him when he was awake. 

Pepper visited frequently, giving him a long hug when he was released and Tony only managed to make her let go when he claimed she would tear the stitches. Pepper blushed, pulled away, then told him to never, ever bring home an alien again. Tony laughed uneasily and said he would do his best, because honestly, he had never really planned anything like it. 

His head was so much clearer now – something Fury took advantage of, arriving the day after he got home, telling him he expected a full report once he was recovered. He might have demanded it sooner but Steve was being particularly stiff-lipped about Fury’s visit to begin with and the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. took his leave soon after, leaving the Avengers alone. 

Loki had safely been delivered back to Asgard, Tony was told. Undoubtedly it wasn’t the last they would see of him, but at least this time they hadn’t been forced to battle him as well. 

Most of the destruction at the Tower had been repaired in the two days he was gone, although the interior still needed some work. Tony avoided looking at the spot on the floor where no signs of battle remained but where he could almost sense a whiff of something… 

Whenever that happened, he pressed close to the nearest Avenger, as subtly as he could, taking a good inhale of them instead. Bruce had told him how Davy had controlled him, and how they had devised their own pheromone to counter-act it. Obviously the effects hadn’t been flawless and as intense as expected, but Tony could tell it had worked – and kept working still. If the others noticed, they didn’t mention it. There weren’t any group hugs, but whenever Tony was in the room, they would move closer, as if knowing he wanted it but was fighting himself not to. 

Tony knew it would wear off soon, leaving him fully functional and in control of his basic needs. A big part of him looked forward to that in order for all this to be over. After all, it had been a nightmare – even if he hadn’t seen it as such until afterwards. He sure as hell wasn’t going to watch tentacle porn in the same way ever again. 

There was a part of him, however, that clung to the last effects of the pheromones and demanded movie nights with the team since it was a convenient way to have them all close to him on the couch, surrounding him as he had never known he needed it, and as long as none of them was complaining, neither was he. 

In conclusion, all was once again well in the Avengers Tower – perhaps more so than before, but if someone noticed, they didn’t comment on it. 

 

 

****

#### The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To crown your reading experience, please enjoy this wonderfully funny piece of art **swcajolings** ([LJ](http://swcajolings.livejournal.com/117787.html)) contributed to this fic:


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